The report said the United States is the world's incarceration leader, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which make up the rest of the Top 10.

i'm all about personal accountability, but i'm going to be hard-pressed to see reason in putting non-violent offenders in with violent offenders. unless, of course, the corrections industry is planting seeds for sector growth.

i think the 1 in 99 got this way from missing opportunities for beneficial behavior modification. if there's a system in place already, it sure isn't very effective. and smoking a ****load of pot for years didn't make me violent. wonder what i'd be like if i got locked up each time i got high.

i'm all about personal accountability, but i'm going to be hard-pressed to see reason in putting non-violent offenders in with violent offenders. unless, of course, the corrections industry is planting seeds for sector growth.

i think the 1 in 99 got this way from missing opportunities for beneficial behavior modification. if there's a system in place already, it sure isn't very effective. and smoking a ****load of pot for years didn't make me violent. wonder what i'd be like if i got locked up each time i got high.

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i would hardly call some of the Candian style country club prisons we have here for minor/nonviolent offenders "hard time"

A cursory search turned up the DEA's take on the numbers of non-violent drug users in fed and state prison. Of course, the statistics are muddied by not including those convicted of "intent to distribute" and other variations. The stats are further muddied by insanely low tolerances and mandatory minimums in some states.

If I had my way, "mandatory minimum" would take on a whole new meaning.

There is a myth in this country that U.S. prisons are filled with drug users. This assertion is simply not true. Actually, only 5 percent of inmates in federal prison on drug charges are incarcerated for drug possession. In our state prisons, its somewhat higherabout 27% of drug offenders. In New York, which has received criticism from some because of its tough Rockefeller drug laws, it is estimated that 97% of drug felons sentenced to prison were charged with sale or intent to sell, not simply possession. In fact, first time drug offenders, even sellers, typically do not go to prison.

Welcome to the Alexander Maconochie Centre, the ACT's first prison, where the cost of a room is your liberty and more.

With an operating budget of $24.5 million, the ACT Government anticipates it will cost taxpayers $336 a day for each inmate at the $131 million prison, based on a population of 200 prisoners.

"Objectives with the prison was to make it human rights compliant and in terms of design that means ... an atmosphere which is healthy not just for prisoners and staff but for everyone who uses the facility," he said.

"It is about encouraging behaviours which will work in our favour when people are released back into the community, so if the environment can influence that, then that is a good thing."

One example of a life wasted for ten years in prison by an overzealous, over reaching Federal gov't: LINK

In the spring of 1994, the Tucker family received lengthy prison sentences -- 10 years for Steve, 16 years for his older brother Gary, and 10 years for his brother's wife, Joanne -- without possibility of parole, for the curiously worded federal crime of "conspiracy to manufacture marijuana."

Yet federal prosecutors never charged them with buying, selling, growing, transporting, smoking or even possessing marijuana. An 18-month DEA investigation had failed to turn up direct evidence connecting the Tuckers to even a single joint.

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They were sent up the river for selling lights and fertilizer, stuff you can buy at Home Depot or any number of farm or plant stores.